Winter Ice Road Trucking Jobs

Some of the hardest and most exciting truck driving jobs can be found in the far north where normal roads and highways simply don’t exist. Driving snow removal machines and plows is hard work.

Over the hundreds of miles of frozen lakes and tundra, the winter ice roads are used to transport vital materials such as fuel, equipment and other goods to northern remote locations including diamond mines within the Northwest Territories. Transporting materials in this way is much more economical than dropping supplies in by air, even though the routes taken are many times more dangerous. With almost a thousand miles of ice roads between some remote locations and Yellowknife, the trips can be stressful and nerve-wracking and can test even the most hardened driver.

Specialized trucking companies regulate and schedule the trucks making the trip so that they maintain a specific speed and distance apart from each other. Varying from these set rules can result in setting up under-ice waves that can easily fracture the ice road and put every driver’s life in jeopardy.

These ice roads are only useable in the winter months, so drivers on the ice roads need to work in temperatures that can regularly reach -50 degrees! The work is tiresome and usually dull – not to mention very stressful! Some drivers even quit after only a few days of driving on the winter ice roads. After that first small cracking of the ice underneath their rig, many drivers simply turn around and never try again.

Note – Keep an eye on the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline project because in the near future there could be many ice road trucking jobs available in conjunction with the pipeline being built.

It takes a special type of person to accomplish the truck driving necessary to get the materials across the ice road and to the remote destination, but the rewards are certainly worth the stress. Drivers who work hard and stay alert, can easily make a good year’s salary ($60,000 -70,000) in just a few months of transporting materials. But the work is exhausting and usually requires a level head and the ability to follow set speeds and safety regulations while driving. Drivers are seldom alone as they move across the ice road with convoys of vehicles (2-5 trucks) making the run with a set distance separating each vehicle from the next. Without these safety rules, fractures would occur and collapse the road. This is not a job for the faint of heart but can easily be one of the most rewarding truck driving careers you’ll ever have – if you have the determination and nerve to get the job done!